How much baby clothes do I really need to get?

I think Eva is going to outgrow me and Ben. At least if she continues in this pace. Just before Christmas we dug up the bag of size 74 (6-9 months) cloths that we had inherited and just a month later, we had to pack it away and find the next (and last!) bag of cloths we’ve inherited in size 80 or 9-12 months. That was two months ago. Now she’s finally the same age as her cloths tell her she is.

I tried keeping her in her size 74 clothes maybe just a week too long, but I kind of felt bad for all the nice clothes she’d gotten and which she would never get to use. So many shirts, pants and dresses that had just been waiting to be used and which never even made it out the drawer. But I guess when the diaper is trying to escape it’s a sign that the fit might be getting just a tad too snug.

The escaping diaper. A clear sign that a size upgrade is needed.

How much clothing does a baby really need the first month or two?

When expecting Eva we were like most first time parents really confused about how much clothes she would need. We knew she might pee, poop or drool all over everything, but did that mean she would need 10 pairs of nicely coordinated outfits per day or would 1 or 2 outfits be enough?

Eva was born in the summer and it turned out to be a quite warm summer ranging between 20-30 degrees Celsius (68-86 Fahrenheit) most days. At that time we lived in a small apartment which got really hot, meaning Eva actually pretty much spent the first few months wearing only a diaper and a short sleeved bodystocking, as we rarely left the apartment. Most things she used was in cotton, but had it been winter I would had gone with wool (and that is pretty much also what she’s wearing all the time these days).

This is what we ended up using for the first 2 sizes (and not what we ended up having) in the summer:

10 bodystockings – 8 short sleeved (because of summer) and 2 long sleeved. I think it would have been the other way around had it been winter.

3-4 pairs of pants and leggings – I prefer the kind in jersey material. We didn’t use tights with feet because of the weather, but had it been winter we might have.

3 pairs of socks – the socks pretty much never got dirty, but somehow always seemed to be missing.

5 onesies – Eva used these for sleeping in and not for wearing through the day (though she often ended up sleeping in her bodystocking because she fell asleep in them or it was just to damn hot to wear a onesie).

2 cardigans – oh the joy of not having to pull a sweater over her head. We pretty much only used these for going out when she was wearing a short sleeved body.

2 hats – to be honest we only used one most of the time. The other one was just for the few times the other one was dirty or had mysteriously gone missing.

1 baby blanket – you could argue this is not clothing, but we did sometimes use it as a substitute for clothing or as shade from the sun when outside.

Had it been winter I would, as mentioned, have bought everything in wool (bodies, sweaters, socks, pants, hats, everything). It’s so amazing at keeping your baby at a comfortable temperature and leading the sweat away from the body if he or she starts to get too warm. If she had turned out to be allergic I would have gone with a combination of cotton and silk. I would also have added the following to the list if she had been a winter baby:

2 pairs of warm socks

2 sweaters

1 sleeping bag for going outside. We use the original from Voksi and just love it! (And if you hadn’t guessed it, it’s made from wool)

Eva didn’t really drool or vomit/regurgitate and this is of course reflected in the list. I think if she had, we would have pretty much doubled the amount of bodystockings and stocked up on bibs! Especially considering we only washed our clothes about once a week. Sometimes two if we were really desperate, but often she could use her clothes more than one day in a row (if we remembered to buy the good diapers that is). If you choose to wash more than once a week I think you could get away with not buying so many bodystockings or onesies. I would just recommend having at least one extra pair of everything (except maybe from the blanket or the sleeping bag).

How much does clothes did we need in the next few months?

As she has gotten older we have had to add a few more bodystockings and onesies. And shirts. And pants. And socks. Why? Because she’s begun eating solids and wow, she can really make a mess! Especially when she gets to hold on the spoon (read: steals it from us) or eats with her hands, which is pretty much all she does these days. I’ve made her some really easy and functional bibs, but somehow her sleeves always fall down and gets covered in food even though I have folded them up really carefully.

I’ve also added the following to the mix:

non-slip socks – for helping her to stand up on our slippery floor when going barefoot is not an option

a few pairs of tights with feet – sometimes I just don’t want to spend all day putting her socks back on her feet. Apparently pulling socks off is a big hit with babies.

a dress or two (because fancy)

Because it is now winter and she’s gotten so big she is no longer content just lying down when she is in her pram or sitting passively in the baby carrier, we’ve also bought these few items:

2 pairs of mittens – not gloves, but mittens and 2 pairs because one mitten will fall off and disappar. It’s the law of mittens. We chose some made of wool

2 hats – one warmer than the other, but both made of wool

a thick wool onesie for going outside in the baby carrier or wrap

a thick sweater for lying/sitting in the pram in her Voksi bag – again it’s made of wool

a wrap cover – I would have prefered a jacket that was big enough to fit the both of us, but found it a bit too expensive to buy one specifically dedicated to this and never really got around to go shopping for an oversized coat

Can you have too much baby clothes?

Yes. The answer is most definitely yes. We were so fortunate to inherite a lot of clothes, but we only found out after I’d already bought what we really needed in those sizes. Though it was really nice to always have something to choose from I almost always ended up using the same few items while the others just took up space. It quite the luxerious problem, I know, but we had to donate some of the clothes and just keep the ones we needed (plus a bit more). We just don’t have the space.